1.

Ships – Precession

“With Precession, Ships have taken all that guardianship, heart and knowledge and have made one of my favourite albums of the year. Songs for the mind and body. The album is one of the most beautiful and dynamic sounding records you’ll hear this year. Its production is detailed with lots of little sonic treats that easy to pick up on but hard to create.”

2.

Gorillaz – Humanz

An all-star cast is Gorillaz thing but still the cast on this is ridiculous. Grace Jones, Kelela, Popcaan, DRAM, Danny Brown, Mavis Staples, De La Soul, Kali Uchis, Zebra Katz, Vince Staples, Savages, Rag ‘n’Bone Man, , Noel Gallagher (yes), Carly Simon, Ray Blk, Kilo Kish, Peven Everett. I could go on. It’s hard to weave so many disparate guests into a coherent whole but Damon Albarn is a dab hand at it. It may not be the best Gorillaz album (Plastic Beach reigns supreme) but Humanz provides many moments of kaleidoscopic pleasure, even while the formula feels a little tired on occasion. Standouts include Kelela’s vocal on the bouncy ‘Submission’, the Bobby-Womack tribute of ‘Andromeda’, Vince Staples sharp politically-charged verses on ‘Ascension’ and having Pusha T and Mavis Staples on the same track on ‘Let me Out’.

3

Sylvan Esso – What Now

The second album from the North Carolina duo frees up the band’s electro with looser pop textures (‘The Glow’) and a near acoustic singalong (‘Song’). It’s still very much the duo who gave us ‘Coffee’ and Play It Right’ and that’s down to Nick Sanborn’s production which at its core is percussive electro-pop and vocally, the warm earthiness of Amelia Meath.

4.

J Dilla – Motor City

The latest release from the vault of one of hip-hop’s great – maybe the greatest – producer. Dilla’s mother Ma Dukes has released this album of 20 varied instrumental cuts. J Rocc provides a single mix of the album too.

5.

Feist – Pleasure

Leslie Feist’s first album in six years makes clear that we are far away from the bright guitar pop of 2007’s The Reminder and the silky textures of 2004’s Let It Die. Continuing the plaintive style of 2011’s Metals, Pleasure is a stripped back low-key album for quiet moments. Jarvis Cocker appears for some spoken word on ‘Century’, ‘Any Party’ feels like dropping in to a live band in the studio, and the title track brandishes a PJ Harvey-style intensity but Pleasure in this case, is very understated.

Gorillaz returned last night with news of a new album Humanz and as promised, a slew of guest spots for the likes of Grace Jones, De La Soul, Kali Uchia, Kelela, Danny Brown, Jamie Principle, Mavis Staples, Zebra Katz and Pusha T among others listed below.

The ape rumblings in recent weeks were indication. Gorillaz are back with their first song in six years, a ballad-style song with crooning vocals Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine (with a spoken word bit), Albarn vocals, electronics, an organ and a choir.

The time of the song was intentional:

Gorillaz returns after six years with the apocalyptic “Hallelujah Money” video, the first taste of their new record which is coming later this year. The band has issued this song on the eve of the Inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump to serve as commentary on a politically-charged, historical moment. #wearestillhumanz

Update: It’s 2016, I found this post and enjoyed it. I’ve now added a Spotify playlist of all of the albums available.

Below is a list of my favourite records of the ten years between the turn of the millenium, the year 2000 and 2010. Ranking these albums was led by a) what the album means to me and b) how often I’d listen to it. Each and every one of these albums blew me away repeatedly at some time between the ages of 18 and 27. Each one has something special going for it, something magical that brings me back to it. For that I can only thank the creators of each.

Without further ado, here are my favourite 50 albums from the decade. And remember, you can’t be wrong if they are your favourites.

Recorded while on tour in North America over 32 days, The Fall is more of a sparse solo Gorillaz album of Albarn instrumentals with occasional vocals with Bobby Womack featuring on ‘Bobby in Phoenix’. Here’s the video featuring the opening tune ‘Phoner to Arizona’.

This tune went down well at the Gorillaz gig last week. The most common sentiment I’ve heard about this tune so far is surprise that Daley is a bloke. This single is out on November 22nd. I wonder was it recorded on an iPad too?

Photos by Danielle Graham from the Gorillaz show last night which featured guests Bobby Womack, Kano, Bashy, Daley, Bootie Brown, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Little Dragon, De La Soul, Roses Gabor and even feckin Mark E Smith’s ramblings. Not to mention Damon Albarn and half of The Clash – Mick Jones and Paul Simonon – are in the band.

Personally, I love Gorillaz’ songs (especially the last two albums) so hearing them live was always something that was going to please me. The tradeoff of using a big venue like The O2, is you miss the nuance of performance and I really wanted to actually see the musicians play (I’m short so that didn’t help) rather than look at the admittedly amazing visuals. Maybe a seated ticket would have been the way to go. Still, Gorillaz remain a beautiful showcase of artistry, music and industry.See the full photo gallery ..»

Recorded a few weeks ago and to be released as a new single on November 22nd. Featuring Daley on vocals. Inspiration for the title comes from The Donca Matic – the Japanese-designed drum machine which started the Korg Company in 1963.(more…)

Someone has uploaded the whole BBC stream from Gorillaz’ Glasto performance on Friday night to Megaupload. At 97 minutes long, the set took in 17 songs with guest appearances from Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano, Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown, Kano, Bashy, De La Soul, Mark E. Smith, Shaun Ryder, Lou Reed and of course, half of The Clash in the Gorillaz live band alongside Damon Albarn. Stellar. I can’t wait to see them at The O2 in September. Full set-list below. [Via](more…)